Stawell Gift 2022: Harrison Kerr and Carla Bull claim $40,000 winners’ cheques
Harrison Kerr and Carla Bull claimed the Stawell Gift’s $40,000 winners’ cheques, with the men’s champion breaking an incredible record along the way.
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Harrison Kerr’s Stawell Gift dream became a reality in devastating fashion after the Victorian engineering student produced the fastest winning time in Australia’s richest foot race since 1995.
Kerr, 22, has been a Stawell regular with his family, watching his brothers compete over the Easter weekend and wondering when his time would come to have his day on the famed Central Park track.
On Monday his moment came and he delivered in style, streeting away from his rivals off the mark of 9.25m to claim an easy victory in the stunning time of 11.85sec - the fastest winning time since Glenn Crawford’s 11.79sec.
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It was a different story in the women’s Gift with the judges needing to view a photo of the finish before awarding Queensland teenager Carla Bull (6m) the $40,000 winner’s cheque by the barest of margins.
There were no surprises in the men’s final given Kerr stamped his authority on the Gift with a breathtaking semi-final victory and then held his nerve in the final to beat home Hamish Lindstrom (7.75m) and Jesse McKenna (6.25m) - the son of former West Coast Eagles champion Guy McKenna.
“It feels incredible, this is what we planned to go out and do,” Kerr said.
“This was the goal from the start of the season, I have been planning and preparing for ages. I just had to be in the right headspace.”
Kerr suffered a setback last year when he was injured during a football game playing for Aquinas Old Boys in the VAFA which forced him to put running on hold for several months.
“I got cleaned up and as you can see I’m not very big,” he said. “I had to have a shoulder reconstruction, that was May last year so I had to have two months off running. I was stuck in the gym doing bike and core sessions, all the terrible stuff.
“I knew I had time (for the Gift) but I had to do everything right.”
Kerr, who grew up in Park Orchards and plans to use his $40,000 winner’s cheque on a house deposit, will consider stepping up his running on the Australian domestic circuit next year.
“I love the sport so I will stick around and keep trying,” he said. “I would love to try my hand at the circuit stuff against those awesome guys today.
“I am definitely a bit off them but with the right training hopefully I can join those blokes.”
Bull, 19, had to overcome an untimely cold which struck on Friday night to claim the women’s Gift by a whisker in 13.77sec from Clare De Saus (8.5m) with Geelong’s Mia Gross (0.75m) powering late for third.
“When I was flying in (from Queensland) I felt a tickle in the throat,” Bull explained. “I was a bit worried for the next day but I just relaxed, made sure I had lots of fluids and did everything I could to prepare.
“I wasn’t too good yesterday, I nearly lost my voice but I was a little bit better today which is nice. Perfect timing.”
Bull grew up in Hervey Bay but moved down to the Gold Coast two years ago to study physiotherapy at university. She then joined renowned coach Brett Robinson’s Vikings training group where a plan to win the Stawell Gift was quickly formed.
After a dominant semi-final win, the final was a completely different story with Bull admitting she was sure she’d won on the line.
“At halfway everyone was close, everyone was close, and in my head I was just like ‘focus on the end, focus on the end’. That’s all I could think.”
Stawell Gift 2022 preview
It was more Peter Matera than Guy McKenna who was renowned as the speedster during West Coast‘s great premiership era.
McKenna was the cool, calm and collected half-back flanker whose speed of mind was his weapon rather than his fast feet.
The gift of speed clearly jumped a generation as the former Gold Coast Suns coach’s son has emerged as one of the favourites for Australia’s richest footrace.
Jesse McKenna is the third fastest qualifier through to the Stawell Gift semi-finals after impressively striding down the Central Park track to win his heat in 12.22sec.
The 20-year-old from Sandringham is happy to have his Dad covered in the running stakes and also has some unfinished business in the weights room.
“As well as one day being able to bench press more than my dad, I would like to see how far I can get among the amateur sprinting ranks,“ McKenna said.
“My future will always include the annual trip to Stawell.”
McKenna, who is running off 6.25m, comes to Stawell at the peak of his powers after winning last month‘s Euroa Gift.
“I’m probably in the shape of my life (thus far) so I believe that my best run gives me as good a chance as anyone else in the mix,“ he said.
“However, this is an event where absolutely no one can be counted out over the long weekend.
“To become a small part of the Stawell Gift’s long history would be a truly surreal experience. It would not only be an achievement, but a special memory that would be a privilege to live with forever.”
Sydney‘s Hamish Lindstrom (7.75m) was clearly the fastest in Saturday’s heats clocking 12.05sec with Harrison Kerr (9.25m) next in 12.08sec.
“I’m pretty happy with that performance, it’s an honour coming in as one of the favourites as this is such a big event. I’m happy to be in the position I wanted to be, just need to execute on the day now,” Lindstrom said.
Ringwood hurdler Danielle Shaw was the fastest qualifier in the women‘s Gift, clocking 13.63sec off 5.5m.
Shaw, 23, showed her quality by finishing sixth in the national 100m hurdles final earlier this month. She has previously represented Australia at the world junior championships.
“The Australian Championships have finished now, and I always wanted to come to Stawell,” Shaw said.
”The atmosphere is amazing. We don’t get these crowds at nationals or any big meet that we have so it is really good to see all the support.”
Next fastest through to the semi-finals was Queenslander Carla Bull (6m) in 13.64sec while backmarkers Torrie Lewis (13.97) and Bree Masters (13.77sec) both impressed in their heat wins.
Stawell Gift no hurdle for fleet-footed Shaw
Victorian hurdler Danielle Shaw has shown she is just as good without the barriers, storming into favouritism for the Stawell Gift.
Shaw clocked the fastest time in Saturday’s heats, scorching down the Central Park track in 13.63 seconds to stake her claim for Monday’s final.
The 23-year-old finished sixth in the national 100m hurdles final at the Australian Championships behind Olympian Liz Clay earlier this month.
Shaw, who is running off 5.5 metres, was a world junior representative for Australia in 2016 and has been a consistent performer at the elite level over the past 12 months.
Queenslander teenager Torrie Lewis looked good winning her heat in 13.97sec but she was overshadowed by fellow scratch marker Bree Masters, who impressed winning her heat in 13.63sec.
The men’s event is wide open with NSW sprinter Hamish Lindstrom (7.75m) the fastest qualifier in 12.05sec.
Harrison Kerr (9,25m) was next fastest on 12.08sec with a familiar AFL name, Jesse McKenna - the son of former West Coast Eagles champion and Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna - clocking 12.22sec off 6.25m.
New Zealand’s Eddie Nketa was brilliant coming off scratch to finish second in his heat in 12.27sec behind Tom Griffin (9.75m) who clocked 12.26sec.
National 100m champion Jake Doran (0.5m) broke in his heat but managed to pull himself together to scrape through (12.54sec) to Monday’s semi-finals.
Sprint star following in Freeman’s footsteps
Stawell has often been the unlikely venue for a sneak peak at greatness with Olympic champion Cathy Freeman a regular before she became the world‘s best.
This weekend another special talent will again grace the grass of Central Park in the women‘s Gift.
Torrie Lewis has burst on to the Australian sprinting landscape over recent months with the 17-year-old Queenslander already being labelled as “the next big thing”.
She will run off scratch in the Stawell Gift after some blistering performances, including running 11.35sec when second in the open 100m Queensland championship behind unbeaten flyer Ella Connelly, who is five years her senior.
Lewis has already qualified in the 100m, 200m and 400m for August‘s world junior championships in Colombia.
Her coach, Gerrard Keating, a former national 100m champion, said he expected his rising star to be off the back mark.
“We predicted she would be off zero,” Keating said. ”It‘s an honour to be on such a mark at such a young age.”
Beach sprinter Bree Masters, who finished third in the Gift in 2019, is also off scratch with Mia Gross starting at 0.75m.
New Zealand‘s Eddie Nketia is the scratch marker in the men’s 120m Gift ahead of Australian champion Jake Doran (0.5m).
South Australian young gun Aidan Murphy, the son of former Olympian Tania van Heer, is off 0.75m alongwith Jack Hale and 2019 Gift winner Dhruv Rodrigues Chico.
Another feature of the Stawell carnival this year is the AIA Vitality women‘s 1000m invitational which will feature Olympians Linden Hall and Catriona Bisset.
The Gift final will be telecast live on Channel 7 on Monday.
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